Stress and state of the immune system in norm and pathology. Brief review of literature

Sympathoadrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal structures form the basis of a stress-responsive system that secretes stress hormones, epinephrine, noradrenaline and cortisol, interacting with receptors of the nervous, endocrine and immune cells, including granulocytes. In the first minutes of acute stress, the leukocytes activated by hormones get into the bloodstream and are redistributed to different compartments of the organism, selectively accumulating in tissues subjected to stressor aggression and stimulate immune responses. Chronic stress initially activates and further inhibits the immune response through changes in secretion by immunocytes of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Due to immunosuppression, the body develops disease states with the outcome of a specific somatic pathology.